Parade of Downtown Living hopes to lure people back

Press Photo/Lori Niedenfuer CoolThe living room's windows of this condo in The Residences at McKay Tower overlook downtown Grand Rapids. The high-end condos are being built in former offices on the upper floors of downtown's first "skyscraper" at Monroe Center and Pearl Street.

GRAND RAPIDS -- Joe Elliott sold his home in Hudsonville a few months ago, signed a short-term lease on an apartment in Grandville and began the final countdown to his move downtown.

About two years ago, he signed a deal to buy a 12th-floor unit in River House at Bridgewater Place, the 34-story condominium high-rise that's one of nine stops in the fourth annual Grand Rapids Magazine Parade of Downtown Living.

Friends already are lining up to watch the 2009 Fourth of July fireworks display from his balcony.

The parade is designed to draw more people like Elliott, 48, who was drawn to the idea of living in the heart of the city without the hassle of a lawn and upkeep of a stand-alone home.

"I travel a lot and I'm gone a lot and I'm single, so I was really looking for something that was low or no maintenance," said Elliott, who was among the earliest buyers to commit to the project.

One new feature on this year's tour are volunteer "city guides" onboard the free tour shuttle buses sharing highlights about city living.

Listen to the people marketing the developments on the tour and you never would believe in anything called a "housing bubble."

Robert Grooters Development Co. reports it has sold more than 70 percent of the 207 units in River House in the two years since construction began. The building is slated to be topped off in July with occupancy set for September. Units still available range in price from $249,000 to $1.4 million.

At the Fairmount Square, a 35-unit development in the Cherry Hill area east of downtown, two units have been sold with the first model set to open in time for the parade. Prices range from $139,000 to nearly $300,000.

"While the market is tough from a real estate perspective, there is a little piece of the urban side that is not constrained," said Bob Sorensen, president of sales and marketing at Fairmount Square developer Eastbrook Homes.

But while some projects are showing momentum, the market for downtown housing -- particularly in newly constructed buildings -- has been affected by the housing downturn.

Tall House, a 2007 parade stop planned near Van Andel Arena, has been canceled by its developers because of slow presales and a difficult credit market. Another former parade stop, a condo tower at 240 Ionia Ave., is on indefinite hold.

Virgin Soil Development, which has two projects it is marketing along Monroe Center, opted out of the parade due to the cost of participating. Moch International's completed but mostly vacant 118-unit Icon on Bond is the largest downtown condo project not on the tour.

In addition to Fairmount and River House, other stops on in this year's parade are: The Fitzgerald, an upscale condominium conversion of the historic former downtown YMCA; Union Square, the converted former Union High School; The Boardwalk, a former furniture factory being converted from apartments to condos; Fox Lofts, the former Monroe Center home of Fox Jewelers; Hillmount, a condo conversion of a Heritage Hill apartment building; and The Residences at McKay Tower, high-end condos being built in former offices on the upper floors of downtown's first "skyscraper" at Monroe Center and Pearl Street.

At Fox Lofts, three of 16 units have been sold with another two sales pending, Steve Volkers said.

Construction is under way with the first units expected to be ready by November or December, he said.

"I think the parade is going to be pretty big, at least I hope so because that's what they're telling me," Volker said. "It's big money to participate, so hopefully it will do well."

The market downtown is different than you might find in a suburb, Volkers said. For instance, the developers decided to add a green roof as a result of feedback from potential buyers -- a first for a downtown condo project. Such roofs include vegetation and soil that help insulate a building and divert rainwater from sewer drains.

"We're excited about just doing something different," he said. "That's what Fox Lofts really needs, not just being another little condo project."

The tour also includes a stop at Verne Barry Place, featuring new and renovated low-income apartments and market-rate live-work apartments along South Division Avenue.

All proceeds from admission to the parade support Verne Barry Place's developer, Dwelling Place, a Grand Rapids nonprofit housing development company.

Downtown restaurants six.one.six in the JW Marriott, Blue Plate in the Courtyard by Marriott, One Trick Pony, Cottage Bar and Bobby J's also are donating 15 percent of the tabs from diners' wearing parade wristbands to Dwelling Place.